Pick a boat, any boat...

[kjackson]

I'm looking for input on Lowe's FM 165 or its earlier version, the Sea Nymph.  The hulls I'm looking at are not the smallish red boats that seem to be everywhere. I've not found an FM165 nearby to look at, so before I hit the road-- are there any problems with this model? Any good points, bad points, neutral points, things I should look at?

TIA

[fishinwrench]

20 hours ago, kjackson said:

I'm looking for input on Lowe's FM 165 or its earlier version, the Sea Nymph.  The hulls I'm looking at are not the smallish red boats that seem to be everywhere. I've not found an FM165 nearby to look at, so before I hit the road-- are there any problems with this model? Any good points, bad points, neutral points, things I should look at?

TIA

SeaNymph boats are a little weak. Usually built with thinner guage aluminum and known for loose, leaky, broken rivets and cracked welds.    Not a big problem if you can get to both sides of the rivets....but often they are buried in flooring and upholstery.  

[Gumboot]

When I lived in TN is used to drive by a marine dealer every day that had a stack of Fisher jon boats out front from 16' to 12'.  One morning I went by and that stack of boats was scattered across the dealer lot.  Someone had run off the road and took them out.

I stopped by that afternoon and negotiated a deal for a 16' that had a dent on top of transom.  I don't know what gauge that Fisher aluminum was, but it sure didn't take much for a couple of guys to move it around and it was very flexy.  Much more so than the Alumacraft that replaced it.

Sorry for the hijack...good memories.

[kjackson]

Well, so much for the Lowe hulls...back to Lund/Crestliner/Alumacraft.  

I ran a Fisher for a bit as a project boat for articles, and it did not impress me. Part of the problem was that when coming off plane, it would take a serious dive to the right which included a rather dramatic turn in that direction. That and another hull that had so much calking on the hull where the owner was trying to stop leaks left me kind of cold about the brand. Not that Lund doesn't have its problems. Saw one newish Lund that had been moored in saltwater for quite a while. The electrolysis was so bad that even the aluminum seat bases were crumbling.  

[MrGiggles]

I had a 14' Alumacraft that had visibly been beaten for most of it's life. Battered and bruised, but never broken. The hull was almost 1/8" thick. My dream boat is a Competitor 165/175 tiller.

I wouldn't discount a Lowe that was in good shape with a reputable outboard. They're on the lower end with Tracker, but there's a bunch of them out there with happy owners.

G3 is worth looking at too, although I don't think there's as many out there. 

 

 

[Linhardt]

1 hour ago, MrGiggles said:

My dream boat is a Competitor 165/175 tiller.

 

 

Had to look one of those up.  That is one awesome small boat.

Alumicarft Competitor 175 Walkthrough (Tiller Model)